San Francisco residents could get 100 percent green power plans

San Francisco residents may soon be able to buy a 100 percent green power plan, for about $9 a month more on average, under a public power program approved by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.

The CleanPowerSF plan would provide $19.5 million to Shell Energy North America for a 5-year contract to provide, develop and invest in efficiency and renewable power generation for city residents.

If it receives final approval, it would set the city on a path toward owning its own renewable power generation, breaking the monopoly of PG&E power, which currently supplies San Francisco with electricity.

“The long-term goal is to really do our own generation,” outgoing general manager Ed Harrington told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Harrington and other city officials have been working on the plan for up to 15 years to try to free the city of polluting power sources and control its own power, according to the Chronicle and other news reports.

San Francisco is able to make such a move because of a community choice program set up eight years ago, which allows municipalities to choose alternative electricity providers.